


Below the (Bible) Belt

by orphan_account



Category: Bandom, Panic! at the Disco
Genre: Accidental Fight Club, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bible Belt hell, Homophobia, M/M, Other, Polyamory, Pride Center AU, Ryan Ross is an unfortunate heterosexual, somewhat based on the horrible things going on at the University of Tennessee, without mentioning the college by name in the fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-18 09:58:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8158105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Spencer Smith goes to one of the most homophobic colleges in the country with his (straight) best friend. When Ryan sleeps with someone's girlfriend, Spencer pretends to be Ryan and accidentally starts an off-campus fight club. He slowly becomes the campus underdog hero, but no one realises that he's also the guy who works at the pride center to keep it from being shut down. He's also crushing on two guys, both of whom he knows aren't straight. Unfortunately, they're already dating each other, and Spencer has no idea how to get involved without making everything weird or awkward.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The University of Tennessee is very horrible, 0/10 would reccommend going there if you're gay. Anyway, I wanted to write a fic where the characters experienced the literal hell that is living in the Bible Belt (AKA the Southeast United States), and so this happened. 
> 
> Also, yes, there will be Brallencer, because it's a good ship and I feel like I'm the captain now.

Spencer came out to his parents for the first time when he was thirteen and was convinced that he was in love with Ryan and that they were going to get married at some point in the future. They weren’t dating, and Spencer didn’t know who Ryan was into, but he and Ryan had been friends since they were tiny kids and Spencer had read enough of his mom’s cheesy romance novels to know how best friends for life worked.

 

When he told his mom this, she got up and walked out of the room. Spencer sat in the kitchen, watching the microwave clock for the three minutes it took for her to return. His dad was with her when she came back in, and they looked nervous. They asked if he was dating Ryan, if he was sure about being gay, and how long he’d been thinking about kissing boys. Spencer answered everything honestly, because at the tender age of thirteen he hadn’t realised how shitty the world could be.

 

His parents said that it was probably just a phase, and that Spencer was most likely mistaking a strong friendship as love. He’d move on. He’d realise that he didn’t want to date or kiss Ryan, and find a girl instead.

 

Spencer did one of those things, but not the other. Ryan turned out to be straighter than an emo kid’s hair, and Spencer continued to be very gay and very into boys. He didn’t date much, since most of the guys at his and Ryan’s high school were subpar or straight. Ryan dated a lot, because there were a lot of girls who thought he was gay and wanted to win him over. There were also a lot of girls who thought that Ryan was deep and mysterious, which Spencer thought was hilarious. Ryan was deep, sure, because he actually read all the English Lit books, but he wasn’t mysterious.

 

Spencer made it through high school without any issues. He wasn’t bullied, because most people didn’t think he was really gay. He never had a boyfriend on his arm, and he wasn’t as flamboyant as Ryan (though he did wear girl jeans and eyeliner and shit, but that was just because he thought he looked good). He even got to go to a gay club on his eighteenth birthday (with Ryan), and ended up losing his virginity there, to a guy whose name he didn’t ever catch.

 

The ride back was mostly Ryan complaining about how Spencer had left him all alone with a girl who thought Ryan would become her gay best friend. Spencer thought it was hilarious, that a straight girl had tried to take Ryan on a date to go oogle guys at a gay club, and Spencer had been dragged along last minute because the date happened to be three days after he turned eighteen.

 

“I swear, straight girls are disgusting sometimes,” Ryan said, sliding further down into the passenger seat. Spencer was giggling, still coming down from the whole club experience and from no longer being a virgin. “Dude, you get with straight girls all the time. Why’s it an issue now?”

 

“Because she was fetishising everyone!” Ryan exclaimed. “She was telling me who she thought I should hook up with, because apparently I look like a twink and she thinks she knows what’s hot and shit like that! I’m not even gay!”

 

“That’s the funniest part,” Spencer said. He wasn’t going to touch on how Ryan was right about straight girls turning gay men into some weird sex fantasy.

 

They got back to Spencer’s house far later than Spencer had told his parents he’d be coming back, and as soon as the garage door closed behind him and Ryan, Spencer knew he was going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble with his parents. He led Ryan up the stairs anyway, and when his dad stopped him in the kitchen and his mom told Ryan to go upstairs, Spencer didn’t protest.

 

Spencer’s parents sat him down at the kitchen table again, and Spencer felt like he was thirteen and coming out to them. They asked questions, again, and Spencer answered them, again, because he and his parents had an okay relationship. Spencer wasn’t giving out any information that he didn’t need to, though, not until his mom narrowed her eyes at his neck and said, slowly, “Spencer, is that a hickey?”

 

“Yeah, a guy gave it to me,” Spencer said. His parents both paused and looked at him again, and Spencer remembered that they thought he’d been straight for the past five years. Spencer smiled at them and made jazz hands. “Surprise, I’m still into guys.”

 

“It wasn’t Ryan, was it?” His dad asked, looking up at the ceiling. Spencer made a face, shaking his head. “Ew, dad, no. That would be weird. Ryan’s straight, anyway.”

 

“Well, now I feel better about letting him sleep over all those nights,” Spencer’s mom said, letting out an airy laugh. Spencer looked at her, and she continued, “every time you invited Ryan over, part of me was worried that the two of you were experimenting up in your room. I know we brushed your feelings off then, but Spencer, you were thirteen and we didn’t know much about the LGBT community.”

 

“You guys did research, didn’t you?” Spencer said. His parents nodded. His dad said, “we looked into the colleges you’ve applied to, just to see which ones are more open. Three of them seem alright, but the other two are…”

 

“We’re worried you might get really hurt if you go to the same school as Ryan,” Spencer’s mom said. She reached out and put her hand over Spencer’s. “I know you two had plans to room together next year, but if you’re going to be out as gay, I want you to be somewhere where you won’t be in danger.”

 

“It’s dangerous to be gay anywhere, mom,” Spencer said. He didn’t pull away from her, though. He was eighteen now, and he knew that he was lucky to have supportive parents. He also knew that Ryan’s college, while great for them both academically, was not the most open and accepting of places. Spencer didn’t care, though. He had a plan. He was going to go to college with Ryan, share a dorm with Ryan, and make the university less of a shitty place. Spencer took a deep breath. “I’ll be fine, mom. I made it through high school without any problems. College can’t be that bad.”

 

* * *

 

“That’s disgustingly huge,” Ryan said. He was sitting on his bed, being completely unhelpful while Spencer decorated the room. Most of the decorations were Ryan’s in the first place, but now that he had a friendly roommate, he wasn’t about to do shit to put the room together. Spencer looked over his shoulder and stuck his tongue out at his best friend. “Don’t be homophobic.”

 

“I’m not, I’m being aesthetic-phobic,” Ryan said, and then winced at his own words. “Look, couldn’t you have gotten a flag with a better colour scheme? I get that rainbows are the ultimate gay thing and all, but, seriously. All of the colours are bright and garish, and they clash.”

 

“Yeah, exactly like your wardrobe,” Spencer said. “Can you at least hand me another pin? I think I dropped one behind the bed.”

 

“I'm not your slave,” Ryan said, but a few seconds later, Spencer felt Ryan poking him in the shoulder with a pin. Spencer rolled his eyes and took the pin from Ryan, hanging up the final corner of the pride flag. It was huge, and Spencer's parents didn't know that Spencer had bought it, let alone brought it with him to his new college dorm. He leaned back and looked at it, a grin spreading across his face. It covered most of his wall surface, which was fine because the rest of the decorations were all Ryan's anyway. Spencer wasn't usually one for decoration, but he was determined to at least make his half of the room look as gay as he was.

 

“Is this your way of subtly cock blocking me?” Ryan asked. He had pulled one of his many journals out of his storage cubes and was now laying back on his bed, opening it up and starting to look like a douchebag writer. Spencer rolled his eyes and tossed the roll of tape across the room. “Fuck you, you're gonna be cock blocking me just as much, just by your very existence.”

 

“You really think you're gonna get laid?” Ryan asked, one eyebrow arching up. “In our room? Where the pictures of us as children are hanging in watch over you?”

 

“I still can't believe you made a chain of our baby photos and hung them up on Christmas lights,” Spencer said, focusing on one of the pictures. It was of him and Ryan at Halloween, dressed in matching costumes and looking a little annoyed that they were matching each other. “You know that's a thing girls do, right?”

 

“Yeah, and?”

 

“And that means it's gay as fuck,” Spencer said. Ryan shrugged. “Then it'll fit right in with the rest of the room.”

 

“Not everything feminine is gay,” Spencer said. He jumped off the bed and grabbed the box that was full of school supplies. Now that he’d made the room gay, he was going to get his desk set up and start setting up his calendar whiteboard and class planner. Spencer had a system, and it worked. He had no idea how Ryan wasn’t failing everything, because Ryan didn’t have a system at all and he was a chaotic mess of a person when left on his own.

 

“True,” Ryan said, and tossed a pen over to Spencer. It was one of Spencer’s pens, and he had no idea how Ryan had even gotten it. Ryan had another pen, which he clicked on and continued his writing. “I exist.”

 

“He’s become self-aware,” Spencer said. He and Ryan’s banter continued for a few more hours before Ryan started throwing pens across the room and complaining about being hungry. Spencer was almost done with organising his things. He glanced over at Ryan and said, “start getting ready to go, fucker. You take long enough to get ready that I’ll probably be finished setting everything up by the time you’re done with your hair.”

 

“Eat my ass,” Ryan said, and threw his final pen at Spencer’s head. Spencer batted it away and turned back around to finish what he was doing. Twenty minutes later, he was done hanging up his and Ryan’s clothes and the room (or at least Spencer’s side of it) was in order. Ryan was hunched over a mirror, doing who knows what to his face. Spencer rolled his eyes and pulled a pair of shoes from his closet, putting them on and grabbing his lanyard from the bed before walking over and leaning against the edge of Ryan’s desk. “Is that blue eyeshadow?”

 

“It’s my thing,” Ryan said, making the same weird face that Spencer’s mom would make when she was putting on makeup. The most Spencer had ever put on his face was eyeliner in high school (Ryan’s fault), and he never made that face. It looked stupid. Ryan set his makeup down and looked up at Spencer. He narrowed his eyes. “I could do you, if you want. I got most of my English major friends to do this last year, and it was kind of a way of knowing who was in.”

 

“I really don’t want to be a part of your weird English eyeshadow cult, but thanks,” Spencer said. “Are you almost done?”

 

“Don’t rush art, Spencer Smith.”

 

“I thought you were hungry,” Spencer said, making a pout at his friend. Ryan picked up an eyeliner pencil thing and started adding lines to the blue on his face. Spencer had no idea how Ryan was still straight. He also didn’t know how Ryan hadn’t gotten beaten up last year, if he was walking around on campus with that much makeup on his face.

 

“I am, but then you told me to get ready because you think I take too long, and so I decided to be an asshole about it,” Ryan said. “I was just going to do eyeliner, but then you had to go and rag on my aesthetic choices.”

 

“I regret being friends with you,” Spencer said. Ryan looked up at him, big brown eyes blinking rapidly, in some kind of demented attempt at fluttering his eyelashes. “No you don’t. You love me.”

 

“Yeah, as a friend,” Spencer said. “Put your makeup on so you can show me the shitty cafeteria food. I want the full college experience.”

 

“Fine,” Ryan said. It was another fifteen minutes before he was done, and then he insisted on at least putting eyeliner on Spencer, and Spencer knew better to argue with Ryan if he wanted to actually get anything done, so he sat still and let Ryan push his face around for another five minutes. And then, finally, they were able to leave the dorm and head across campus to the lone cafeteria. There was also a student union with a bunch of food options on the second floor, but that cost meal plan money, and Ryan had told Spencer that meal plan money didn’t go as far as he wished it did.

 

So, cafeteria food was the ideal. Once they had their cards swiped and were inside the cafeteria, they split, going for different options. While Spencer was walking around, hoping that some actual, genuinely good food would pop up out of nowhere, he almost ran into a table. There, in the salad bar line, were two very cute guys. One was tall, with soft, tousled hair falling into his eyes, dressed in an actual button down shirt and looking like the hot professor from that one bad porn Spencer watched when he was sixteen. The other was shorter, with hipster glasses and a beanie covering most of his dark brown hair. He was also wearing a sweater that was too large for him.

 

If Spencer could fall in love with two people and be poetic about falling in love like Ryan was, he would. As it was, he just thought the guys were too cute to be real and apologised to the table he slammed his hip into before realising that there was no one at the table and he looked really stupid just talking to a table and gaping at strangers.

 

He retreated to the pizza bar and accepted that over-baked pizza was the best he could get, and then found Ryan at a high table in the back of the cafeteria.

 

“You look like you just got rejected,” Ryan said, sipping from whatever concoction of soft drinks he had in his glass. Spencer had no idea where he’d gotten a straw from, but he was impressed. “Did you try flirting with someone, only to realise that the rumours are true and this campus is rampantly heterosexual?”

 

“I saw two cute guys and apologised to a table, Ryan, let me live,” Spencer said. He’d forgotten to grab a drink, and he knew better than to steal a sip from Ryan’s out of spite. In another life, Ryan would be a mixologist, but a bad one who only got hired because of his ability to turn anything into a Hair of the Dog. Basically, Ryan enjoyed mixing things that shouldn’t ever be mixed.

 

Ryan’s eyes widened and he dropped his straw. “You ran into a table? Dude, what are you, thirteen?”

 

“No, because I have good taste now,” Spencer said. Ryan glared at him. “Fuck you, I was cute as a teenager.”

 

“I have photographic evidence that states otherwise,” Spencer countered, and Ryan let out a sigh. “Whatever, at least I could get laid on a regular basis in high school. You were still trying to figure out which guys in our school wouldn’t kick your ass if you asked them out.”

 

“Heterosexual privilege,” Spencer said. “And I totally used you to figure out if there were any gay guys in school. Which backfired a lot, because we both looked like girls then.”

 

“We still look like girls now,” Ryan said.

 

“Which is why I’m growing a beard.”

 

Ryan made a face. “Beards are gross, what the fuck? And why do you think anyone will want to kiss you if you’ve got facial scruff? Won’t they end up with beard burn or some shit?”

 

“I’m pretty sure there are guys out there who are into that,” Spencer said. He got up and grabbed a drink from the nearest soda machine, which was in view of the two guys from earlier. Spencer didn't spill his drink or anything embarrassing, but he did see four guys walk past the table, one of them reaching out and jostling the table with their hip. The smaller of the two guys shrunk back, but the taller one glared at the four boys retreating backs and steadied the table. Spencer narrowed his eyes, not sure what to make of what he just saw. He didn't know either of those guys, he hadn't even started his classes.

 

He walked back to where Ryan was sitting. While Spencer had been gone for literally only a minute, three different people had shown up. Spencer didn't recognise any of them, but one was a blonde girl and she was leaning over Ryan's shoulder while he was writing in his journal, so Spencer figured they were his pretentious English major friends. They were all also wearing ridiculous amounts of makeup, and one of the other people had added glitter to the buzzed side of their head.

 

Spencer had to admit, they all looked really cool, but the kind of really cool that would get them beaten up for being original.

 

“Oh, hey, Spence, these are some of my friends,” Ryan said, closing his journal and sitting up. At least he still prioritised their friendship. “Guys, this is Spencer, he and I go way back, and he's my roommate now, so we won't have to worry about getting yelled at anymore.”

 

“Oh, you're the one who's really interested in queer culture,” the one with glitter said. They extended their hand out across the table and Spencer sat his drink down before acknowledging them. He genuinely couldn't figure out their gender, but they didn't give him a chance to ask before continuing. “I'm a huge fan of breaking down society's norms, especially when it comes to gender and sexuality and other queer things. You don't look very non conforming, though. Are you sure you really care about queer culture, or are you just one of those people who jerks off to their coexist bumper sticker?”

 

“Well, I prefer to jerk off to guys, but hey, it's better than jerking off to my own ego,” Spencer said, shrugging and biting into his slice of pizza. Ryan turned away to search for something in his bag, but Spencer could see him trying to hold back laughter.

 

The other three didn’t look as amused. Spencer swallowed and put his sandwich back down. “What? You can't just throw the word queer around like it's some cool and trendy art term. It's not quirky, or trendy, or something you can use for your weird art shit and aesthetics. It's a fucking movement, and it’s a bunch of people who’ve been kicked out and killed and shit for being open about who they are.”

 

“You don't have to get all offended, I meant it as a compliment,” the guy said, a sour expression on his face. Spencer continued to glare at him. “It wasn't taken as one.”

 

Ryan clapped his hands loudly, an obvious attempt at destroying some of the tension that had built up between Spencer and his friend. “Yeah, so, let's not try to tell someone who's actually gay what they can and cannot do, and instead talk about something of importance. The campus theatre. It's being taken over by a bunch of idiots who think that _Romeo and Juliet_ is the highest form of art humanity has ever created.”

 

Ryan's friends all started sharing their opinions of theatre, and Spencer got a text a few minutes later from Ryan saying _sorry they were dicks, wanna go by the pride center thing later??_ Spencer responded with an affirmative, and spend the rest of his dinner not conversing with Ryan’s friends. He didn’t mind it, and Ryan was self-absorbed enough that he didn’t notice or feel bad that Spencer was just sitting there, on his phone, for thirty minutes while everyone finished their food.

 

“Hey, Ryan, you want to go smoke up behind the Humanities building?” The blonde girl asked. Ryan looked like he was about to say yes, before looking over his shoulder at where Spencer was throwing his trash away and shaking his head. “Nah, I’m gonna show Spencer around campus. Maybe tomorrow or something.”

 

“Oh, Spencer could totally join us,” The girl said, linking her arm in Ryan’s. Ryan kissed her and pulled away. “Not tonight. I’ll call you, though, tonight, if you want me to.”

 

“It’s whatever,” she said, and the three of them walked off, leaving Ryan and Spencer alone by the trash cans. Ryan pulled out his phone and typed something into it before putting it back into his pocket and turning to Spencer with his hands on his hips and a grin on his face. “So, pride center thing?”

 

“Show me, oh great and knowing straight friend,” Spencer said. Ryan mock-saluted and led Spencer out of the cafeteria and through campus, almost all the way back to the library. There, nestled into a clump of buildings that looked a few years away from being torn down and forgotten, was a sad little trans flag, flapping in the wind. There was another flag, about ten feet tall and more of a banner, and it was a rainbow flag. It stood in the center of the little overgrown grassy area in front of the building.

 

Spencer frowned. “This is it?”

 

“Yeah, it’s kind of depressing,” Ryan said. He tugged at Spencer’s arm. “Let’s go inside, I’ve never actually been inside, but you’re gay, so I won’t feel as weird.”

 

“What am I, your gay shield?” Spencer said, but he let Ryan lead him through the archway and around to the little courtyard in the middle of the buildings. Ryan flicked his bangs out of his face. “No, you’re my gay proof that I’m not one of those annoying allies. Apparently that’s a problem here, people coming in, claiming to be allies, and then doing jack shit to help the community.”

 

“At least you’re self-aware.”

 

“Duh,” Ryan said, pulling open a door that led to a small hallway. “You keep pointing out my flaws. I’d be an idiot if I didn’t know them all by now.”

 

At the end of the hallway, on the right side, there was a door with a sign proclaiming that the pride center was on the other side. Ryan stepped back and motioned for Spencer to open it, since he was the one who was actually gay. Spencer rolled his eyes and bumped his hip against Ryan’s, but he did open the door. On the other side, there was a girl with jet black hair sitting behind a desk. Her lips were painted bright red, and she smiled up at Spencer and Ryan as they came in. “Hey, welcome to the pride center. I’m Lindsey. Are you guys new?”

 

“I’m a freshman,” Spencer said. “Ryan’s just my friend, and he’s straight. We, uh, I came here to check it out? I’m gay, by the way.”

 

“Cool,” Lindsey said, her smile not dropping. She looked genuinely excited to see Spencer. She pulled a card from the pile sitting on the edge of the desk. “I’ve got a mini events calendar here, and we’va also got the Rainbow Rave on Thursday. It’s for the pride center, but if you want to bring a friend, that’s totally acceptable. We try not to be exclusive, except in our discussion groups, which can be found here,” she handed Spencer a second card, which had a bunch of different groups on it, “they’re for specific orientations. We’re working on making a panel, for people who are questioning or are looking to be better allies.”

 

“Is it usually this quiet?” Ryan asked. Spencer took in the rest of the main room, which wasn’t very big and had two couches, a handful of square ottomans, and a bookshelf. There was a person pressed into the corner of one of the couches with their knees pulled close to their chest and a sketchbook propped on their knees. They didn’t look at Spencer or Ryan.

 

Lindsey reorganised the cards. “No, usually there are anywhere from five to twenty people in here. We’ve also got a study room and a little kitchen area, but the study room usually turns into the game room.”

 

“Is it cool if we hang out here between classes, then?” Spencer asked, and Lindsey nodded. “Yeah, totally. People hang out here all the time. It’s the only safe haven for a lot of us, since the rest of the campus is… well, I don’t want to discourage you, but the rest of campus isn’t that welcoming to people who don’t fit their definition of normal.”

  
Spencer didn’t mention that that was part of the reason he was attending. He knew better than to think that, on his own, he could change the climate of an entire campus, but he wanted to at least try. Also, knowing that it wasn’t just him, Lindsey, and the person in the corner with the sketchbook who were openly not straight made him feel a little better. All Spencer had to do now was find his place on campus and make friends with all the other LGBT people at the center. Then he’d be fine.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer makes friends with some gays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a while to do. I'm on break now, though, so I have a lot of spare time to work on all of the fics I've got going on.

Spencer’s alarm went off at seven in the morning, and Ryan let out a loud groan before throwing one of his many pillows over at Spencer. Spencer threw one of his own back, and shut off his phone before getting out of bed and gathering his things to go shower. He’d signed up for this eight AM class because it was his public speaking requirement, and he wanted to get it over with before he forgot about it. Spencer needed the credit to graduate, but he didn’t want to be in a public speaking class, because he hated public speaking.

 

The only good thing about an eight AM class was that the communal showers were all empty, so Spencer could blare music from his phone while he showered, and he didn’t have to worry about anyone complaining. He finished jerking off and showering and then towelled himself off, getting dressed in the small space between the shower stall and the rest of the bathroom. He had remembered to bring a hair dryer with him, and spent about ten minutes looking for some kind of plug before realising that there weren’t any and that he would have to go back to the room to dry his hair. 

 

Spencer sighed, and finished getting ready except for his hair. He packed up all of his things and headed back to the room. Ryan groaned again when the light from the hallway streamed into the room, and actually sat up to glare at Spencer when Spencer turned on the light and plugged in his hair dryer. Ryan was squinting, his hair starting to curl and covering half of his face. Some of his makeup from the night before hadn’t come off, and there was a smudge of eyeliner across his nose. “Dude, what the fuck?”

 

“There weren’t any plugs in the bathroom,” Spencer said. “Sorry.”

 

“I hate you,” Ryan said, and fell back into his nest of pillows. Spencer shook out his hair, which was starting to dry but was in that awkward stage of being half damp and half over-dried. “I know. I’ll be done soon, and then you can sleep until your class starts at noon, you lazy little shit.”

 

“I’ve embraced the night owl life,” Ryan said, his voice muffled by pillows. Spencer considered messing with him even more, just to be a dick, but he was already a few minutes behind schedule and he didn’t want to be late to his first class as a college student. He finished drying his hair and grabbed his already packed bag from the floor. He grabbed his phone and wallet and turned off the lights before telling Ryan to have fun and leaving the dorm. 

 

His class was halfway across campus, but Spencer made sure to get there fifteen minutes before the class was supposed to start, so that he could get a good seat and not have to worry about missing anything. Spencer knew that the first day was usually allocated to going over the syllabus, but he wanted to at least start the habit of getting to class on time.

 

The door wasn’t open when Spencer got there, but there was a girl sitting outside the room, on her phone. Spencer sat down beside her, leaving a person’s width of space between them so that she wouldn’t think he was some creepy frat guy who was trying to talk to her even though she wasn’t visibly interested. As soon as he was settled, though, she looked up from her phone and flicked her hair away from her face. She offered Spencer a smile, and said, “hey, are you in the communications class?”

 

“Yeah,” Spencer said. “I’m Spencer, by the way.”

 

“Breezy, I’m a senior,” she said, and Spencer wondered if, by not stating his year, he had given away that he was a freshman. “I kept putting this class off because I hate making speeches, but the university told me I had to take it if I wanted to graduate, like, ever.”

 

“Sucks,” Spencer said. He was really bad with small talk if the person wasn’t gay or, like, Ryan Ross. Ryan had once tried to make himself an honourary gay because of how well he got along with Spencer and the handful of gay kids in their high school, but that got shut down before it even started. Spencer knew Ryan didn’t mean anything shitty, but still. Being gay was great and all, but it wasn’t just some rainbow jacket you put on to be cool and trendy. Ryan knew that now, thankfully, but there were still a lot of straight “allies” who didn’t get that gay people existed as more than just Gay Best Friends.

 

Spencer heard footsteps, followed by two people approaching. One had long blonde hair, pulled back into a ponytail, and was gesturing excitedly to the other one, who had short, shaggy brown hair and a scruffy beard. They both looked like they’d just woken up a few minutes before, and Spencer couldn’t blame them. 

 

Breezy looked up. Her face lit up and she waved at the two of them. “Hey, are you two in public speaking too?”

 

“Unfortunately,” the one with short hair said, grinning tiredly and tossing both himself and his backpack down onto the bench across from Breezy and Spencer. The blonde sat down beside him, tucking one leg under her body and pushing her glasses up her forehead. She narrowed her eyes at Spencer for a moment before turning to Breezy and saying, “who’s your new friend, and does Dallon know you’re taking boys on the side?”

 

“I’m not--” Spencer started to say, as Breezy rolled her eyes and cut him off. “His name’s Spencer, and we literally just met. Stop trying to turn me into some kind of seductress, you nerd.”

 

“Look, someone in our friend group has to be seductive, and it’s sure as hell not either of us,” the blonde said, pointing between herself and her companion. She pressed her finger to her nose, seemingly forgetting that her glasses were on top of her face, and said to Spencer, “I’m Linda, by the way. Sorry for accusing you of being Breezy’s mistress. It’s an inside joke.”

 

“She did it to me, too, if it makes it any better,” the guy said. “I’m Jon, and Breezy’s our token straight friend.”

 

“We’re gay, by the way,” Linda said, staring Spencer down like she was waiting for him to say something rude. “Technically speaking, Jon’s bi, but I’m a big fucking lesbian.”

 

“I have a token straight friend,” Spencer said. “Or I would, but he’s kind of my only friend right now. His name’s Ryan, he’s an English major and he’s one of those weird guys who wears makeup everywhere. His friends are kind of dicks but he’s pretty great, for a straight person.”

 

“Same with Breezy,” Jon said, propping his legs up on Breezy’s knees. She raised her eyebrows at him and he winked back. Jon moved his feet back and forth. “Hey, you should totally come down to the center today. We hang out there all the time, and you can bring your Ryan friend if you want. We’re not gay exclusive--Breezy’s got a permanent spot on the couch in the study room.”

 

“I visited it already, but no one was there,” Spencer said. “I’ll come by later, though. Between classes and whatnot.”

 

“Nice,” Linda grinned. “We can introduce you to the rest of the gay squad. It’ll be great. Your Ryan friend’ll have to fight Breezy for the position of our ally mascot, though. Tell him that there can only be one good ally and that he and Breezy can talk it out in the courtyard by the center. With fists.”

 

“Linda, stop trying to get people to fight each other,” Breezy said, rolling her eyes. Meanwhile, Jon had pulled up a calendar on his phone and was reading out some of the Pride center events, so that Breezy and Ryan’s fight for number one ally-ship wouldn’t coincide with anything else they had going on. Spencer knew most of Ryan’s schedule, but he wasn’t about to sign Ryan up to do something without his permission. Ryan was bad enough about going to things he wanted to go to. Spencer didn’t need to make his own life hard just to secure Ryan’s position as the Pride center ally. 

 

Besides, Breezy seemed like a cool enough person. Ryan could be the token straight friend once she graduated. 

 

* * *

 

Public Speaking turned out to be just as horrible as Spencer could imagine it to be. The teacher was an old lady, probably around Spencer’s grandmother’s age, and she spent half of the period going over the syllabus and the other half making them do miniature speeches about themselves. The speeches weren’t too bad, except that Spencer didn’t think he was very interesting, and so he never knew what to put down for the “write one fun fact about yourself!” category. 

 

He learned that Breezy had been a child actress but decided to do her own thing and stay out of the spotlight for a while, Jon wanted to be in a band and never have a desk job, and Linda almost got arrested in high school for participating in a protest. Spencer thought that they were all a lot cooler than him, and was genuinely surprised when Jon invited him to join them for coffee. 

 

“The center might be open, unless you’ve got a class right after this?” Jon said, the four of them heading back towards the library. 

 

Spencer shook his head. “No, I’m free for the next two hours. I’ve gotta go back to my dorm and make sure Ryan’s actually awake, though, but I can come back after that, right?”

 

“Yeah, totally,” Jon said. They were almost at the library, and Spencer let the others take the lead. He knew that there was a Starbucks in the library, because Ryan and his English major friends had been talking about it the other day. Apparently, they thought that Starbucks was a corporate scam, with over-priced, mass-produced, subpar coffee that only a plebian would drink. The best part of the conversation was that Ryan and Spencer went out to Starbucks all the time, back home. There was a Starbucks across from their high school, and another in the Barnes and Noble Spencer had worked at the summer between junior and senior year. 

 

“Hey, dude, what’d you want?” Linda asked, elbowing Spencer. Spencer ordered a grande frappe, no whip, and swiped his meal card. They got their drinks a few minutes later, and headed next door to the center. There was a different flag up this time, one with purple, white, and green stripes. Spencer frowned. “Which one’s that?”

 

“Genderqueer,” Breezy said. “It’s kind of the catch-all flag for non-binary identities.”

 

“Nice,” Spencer said. He didn’t know too much about non-binary people. There weren’t any that he knew of in high school, and the internet was kind of shit when it came to answering questions. There were a lot of forums calling trans people “special snowflakes” and bullshit like that. Spencer didn’t spend much time there. 

 

The center was empty again, save for Lindsey, who was sitting behind the desk, on her laptop, and looking like she needed about ten more hours of sleep. She looked up at the four of them, raising her eyebrow at the sight of their coffee cups. “Are any of those for me, by chance?”

 

“Nope, you’re on your own,” Jon said, grabbing one of the chair cube things and pulling it over to the desk. “I’m taking over at eleven, by the way. We figured the schedule thing out last night, while you and Gee were doing art bonding shit or whatever it is you weirdos do in the art building after hours.”

 

“Jon’s convinced that Lindsey and Gee are secretly married behind everyone’s back,” Breezy said. She and Linda flopped down on either end of the blue couch by the door, and Linda patted the spare seat between them. Spencer fell down into the seat, and drank from his frappe. He let the other three do most of the talking, but they were a lot more interesting than his communications class. It was probably because all of them, except Breezy, were gay. 

 

Before he knew it, it was almost eleven, and Spencer still hadn’t gone back to make sure that Ryan was awake. He scrambled to get all of his things together, not used to being so distracted by his friends that he lost track of time. He promised to come by later, and then bolted from the center, pulling out his phone as he ran. Spencer was hoping that Ryan had gotten up on his own, without Spencer acting as a physical alarm clock, and that there would be a text telling him not to go back to the dorm. 

 

There wasn’t one. Spencer was screaming internally, and not paying attention. Of course, that was when he ran straight on into one of the cute guys from his first day on campus, and the guy fell over. Spencer dropped his phone in surprise and then reached out for the guy, even though he was already on the ground, his glasses askew and his notes scattered around on the ground. 

 

“Shit, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention at all, fuck,” Spencer said, cutting himself off before he could ramble too much. The other guy fixed his glasses, but he just sat there, staring at Spencer like Spencer wasn't entirely human. Spencer grabbed some of the fallen papers, trying to put them back in some kind of order, and didn't make eye contact with the guy. “Sorry, shit. I hope I didn't ruin anything.”

 

“It's fine, seriously,” the guy said. His voice was shaking, and he kept snatching the papers out of Spencer's hands even though they weren't in order yet. Spencer didn't snatch them back, because this guy wasn't Ryan, who put up with all of Spencer's weird mannerisms. He continued trying to help, even though he was running late and was internally panicking because he was off schedule. 

 

Eventually, the guy had all of his papers back in his hands and was standing up, putting distance between himself and Spencer. He gave Spencer a shaky smile as he backed away. “Thanks for the help and all, but I've gotta, I need to--bye.”

 

And then he was gone. Spencer frowned, but the need to be on schedule kicked back in again and he left the front of the building with the pride center in it, and booked it to his and Ryan's room. He got there two minutes later than he was supposed to, and Ryan was still in bed, completely asleep. Spencer rolled his eyes. Usually, he tried to be gentle when waking Ryan up, because Ryan could be a whiny piece of shit when he was tired, but Spencer was late and he didn't have the time to be nice and patient. 

 

He shrugged his backpack off and hurled it onto Ryan. Ryan grunted and jack-knifed upwards, glaring at Spencer. “Dude, what the hell? Can't you wake me up like a normal person?”

 

“I'm late, get the fuck up,” Spencer said, retrieving his backpack and putting it back on. He tapped his foot against the carpeted floor (Ryan had gotten them the softest rug Spencer had ever felt for their dorm, and for once, Spencer thought that Ryan had made a good financial decision) while Ryan moved around the room. Once Ryan had gathered all of the clothes he wanted to wear for the day, Spencer left him. He didn’t have enough time to stand around and make sure Ryan didn’t get back into bed, so he just hoped for the best. His next class was over on the hill, in one of the science buildings that were all named after rich, important families that donated to the school. Spencer didn’t recognise any of the names. 

 

He spent most of the lecture on his laptop, looking up all the names he could remember and reading their Wikipedia articles. Two of them didn’t have Wikipedia articles, but had personal websites, which was equally weird. Spencer got a text from Ryan, asking if he wanted lunch. Spencer texted him back, saying that he had a class right after this one, and couldn’t grab food. Ryan responded with a frowny face, and said that Spencer needed to schedule his classes better, which was hilarious, coming from Ryan. Spencer was pretty sure that the only calendar Ryan looked at was the dry-erase one Spencer had bought and applied to the back of their dorm room door. 

 

Spencer grabbed a sandwich and bottle of water from one of the mini-marts on campus, along with a bag of chips that he wouldn’t eat. Spencer didn’t like chips, but they were part of the meal equivalency thing, and so Spencer bought them. He’d just put them in Ryan’s section of their food storage. Ryan wouldn’t even notice. 

 

He ate his lunch alone, outside and under the shade of some trees. Spencer took the break to pull out his personal planner and add the syllabus dates to it. When he was done with that, he tossed the sandwich wrapper and water bottle, and headed back to the center. Hopefully, someone he knew would be there, and he wouldn’t have to continue being the awkward new kid. 

 

Before he was even in the door, Linda and Jon were calling out his name, and the three other people on the lumpy white leather couch in the back of the room were looking up at him curiously. Spencer waved, awkwardly, and sat down by Linda because he knew her. Jon was behind the desk, playing music quietly from his laptop. Spencer turned to Linda. “So, do we just hang out here, or?”

 

“Yeah,” Linda said. She had her laptop out, glasses on, but she was currently playing agar.io and not anything that looked too important. “Some people try to get work done, but usually we just fuck around, procrastinate. It’s the only safe place for gay kids to hang out and not have to censor themselves, you know?”

 

“Yeah,” Spencer said, even though he had yet to experience how shitty the rest of campus could be. He’d only been on campus for a week. He figured it was only a matter of time before things started getting really bad, and his parents started calling every day to make sure that he was okay and that he and Ryan weren’t in danger. 

 

Linda’s circle got eaten by someone playing with the Donald Trump sticker, and she swore before closing the tab. She sighed. “I needed to get started on my poly sci assignment anyway. But before I do, you’re going to the rave tomorrow night, right?”

 

“Tomorrow’s a Thursday,” Spencer said. “Who the hell has a rave on a Thursday?”

 

“Dude--can I call you a dude?” One of the people on the couch said. They looked like they’d just stepped out of an advertisement for 2007 emo fashion. Their jeans were so tight that Spencer could feel his own legs being constricted. They stretched one foot out onto the table. “I’m Pete, he or they, don’t really care. Anyway, this campus starts partying as soon as classes end on Thursday, and they don’t stop until noon service on Sunday. We have our rave Thursday because all the other clubs and sororities have the Pan-hell building Friday.”

 

“So it’s a gay rave?” Spencer asked. 

 

Linda nodded. “Yep. Technically speaking, you don’t have to be part of the LGBT community to go, but it’s hella gay. There’s usually facepaint, and a lot of music from 2003. It’s great, you should totally do it.”

 

“I have an eight AM on Friday,” Spencer said. Pete looked at him like Spencer had just brutally murdered his first born child in front of everyone. Pete took his leg off of the table and leaned forward, flicking some of his fringe out of his eyes. “You have an eight AM? On a Friday? Do you want to die an early death?”

 

“I’m not really a night owl,” Spencer said. The truth was that once Ryan left for college, Spencer didn’t go out a lot. He had friends other than Ryan, of course, but they weren’t as fun to hang out with. He’d gotten used to getting up early and going to bed at midnight. Sure, it made him seem really lame, but he didn’t mind it that much. 

 

Pete shook his head. “Jesus, you’re not at all ready for college. Look, I’ll buy you ten dollars of whatever you want if you go to the rave and act like a real college person. I’ll even suck your dick if you go with us to Panda Express afterwards.”

 

“Pete, stop being a prostitute,” Jon said from the desk, but Spencer could tell that it was more out of obligation than anything else. 

  
Spencer shook his head. “You don’t need to offer me food, or sexual favours. I’ll go. I should probably start doing shit anyway, since I’m going to be living here for the next few years of my life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment or kudos if you enjoyed!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer goes to a rave, and meets the cute cafeteria guys for real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I'm so sorry for abandoning this fic for so long. I got distracted by other things, but I'm back. Finally. I hope this chapter is worth the wait? Maybe?

Ryan, for some odd reason, thought it was hilarious that Spencer was going to a gay rave. He wouldn’t tell Spencer why he thought it was hilarious, but he did convince Spencer to let him do his makeup. Spencer spent an hour sitting at Ryan’s desk, not moving his face while Ryan poked him with various makeup items. Ryan kept making stupid faces while he worked, and Spencer had to force himself not to laugh at him. 

 

The last thing he wanted was a pissed of Ryan Ross with a bright purple eyeliner pencil in his hand. 

 

“Alright, there, now you look the part,” Ryan said, grabbing his mirror and pushing it in front of Spencer’s face. Spencer had to admit, Ryan was really good with makeup. Unfortunately, Ryan had the worst taste in literally everything, and so now Spencer’s face looked like a rainbow had gone and died on it. And then apparently turned into a butterfly on one side and bubbles on the other side. It was weird. It was out there. It was also really well done. Spencer almost touched his face, but Ryan slapped his hands. “Don’t do that! I literally just finished, you ass!”

 

“Sorry, I forgot you’re not supposed to touch the art,” Spencer said. He ruffled Ryan’s hair, which would also piss him off but it probably wouldn’t get Spencer killed. 

 

Ryan let out a huff and swatted Spencer’s hand away. “You should probably go. I invited a girl over, and I don’t want you to cockblock me while you’re missing your gay rave party.”

 

“Don’t forget to use protection,” Spencer said, grabbing his what he would need for the rest of the night. Hopefully, Ryan and his girl of the week would be done with their sex shenanigans by the time Spencer got back to the room. Spencer really didn’t want to have to crash on someone’s couch for the night. He didn’t know his friends at the center well enough yet, and he didn’t want to intrude on them. 

 

“I will, fucker,” Ryan said. “And be safe, okay? I know you’re all confident and shit, but I don’t want to have to drag your ass out of a fight.”

 

“I’ll be fine,” Spencer said, but he made sure to walk to the Panhellenic (or Pan-hell, as Pete had called it the other day) building as quickly as possible, and not make eye contact with anyone he passed. There were a handful of people hanging out around the building when Spencer got there, but he didn’t recognise any of them. He waved as he passed by, anyway, because he didn’t want to look like an asshole and he was so used to Ryan avoiding human interaction and making Spencer do it for him. 

 

Inside, there was a booth to sign in, and another table that was covered in paints and bendy glowsticks. There were also drinks and snacks, but Spencer didn’t care much about those. He grabbed a couple of glowsticks, and started breaking them.

 

“Spencer!” Someone called out, and then Spencer was being attacked from behind, and almost falling into the table. He turned around to see Linda half hanging off of him, Jon right behind her. One of the cute cafeteria guys was behind Jon, his head bent down while he texted someone rapidly on his phone. Luckily, he wasn’t the one Spencer had run over, because that would just be awkward. Spencer shrugged Linda off and grinned. “So, are we going in now?”

 

“We’re waiting for Brendon,” Jon said. Spencer had no idea who Brendon was. Jon poked the tall cute guy who Spencer still didn’t know the name of. “Hey, Dallon, has Brendon said anything yet?”

 

“He’s on his way, apparently, which doesn’t mean anything coming from Brendon,” Dallon said, and looked up from his phone. He was even prettier up close, which wasn’t fair. He smiled at Spencer. “I don’t think I’ve met you. I’m Dallon, I use they/them pronouns.”

 

“Oh shit,” Spencer said out loud, which was a mistake because he had three gays looking at him like he was an asshole. He shook his head. “No, shit, not like… I don’t mean. I don’t. I’m--fuck. I’m not transphobic I just didn’t realise you were… non-binary? I saw you a few days ago and I was using guy--he?--pronouns, and I shouldn’t have assumed anything. Shit.”

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Dallon said. “I know I don’t look like the average non-binary person.”

 

“Yeah, but I shouldn’t have assumed,” Spencer said, even as the group was heading into the room where the rave was. Dallon told Spencer that it was fine, that they weren’t entirely out yet and didn’t get too upset when someone referred to them as a guy. Even so, Spencer still felt like an ass, and like he had to make it up to Dallon somehow. None of this had to do with the fact that Dallon looked cute as hell, even in the dimmed, flashing lights of the rave. 

 

Spencer was so gay, or… not straight, since he was crushing on someone who didn’t identify as male. Spencer was pretty sure he could still call himself gay if he had a thing for someone who was non-binary. He could ask someone at the center about that, later, when he wasn’t tossing balloons around with people who could easily become his new group of friends. 

 

The rave lasted for hours, but Spencer stopped checking his watch when the music started and everyone proved that white people couldn’t dance for shit. Most of the people on campus were white, which was odd, considering that Spencer was from a large city where variety and diversity were the norm, but he figured it could be a lot worse. He could be the only gay person on campus, and that would suck. 

 

“Hey, you wanna grab food with us?” Jon asked, elbowing Spencer as the rave came to an end. Everyone’s voices were hoarse from yelling along to all of the cheesy, mid-2000s pop songs that the DJ had played, and Spencer was a little dehydrated. He was also pretty hungry, because dancing and jumping around for four hours was draining in the fun way. He nodded, “yeah, sure. Where’re we going?”

 

“There’s a Panda Express on the strip, it’s open until midnight and it’s a lot closer than Cook Out,” Jon said, grabbing a cup of lukewarm Dr. Pepper from the refreshments table. He took a sip from it before handing it over to Dallon, who nodded their head in a thanks. 

 

“We usually go to Cook Out for late night food,” Dallon said. “Also, Brendon said to tell you guys that Breezy’s meeting us there. She said she’d save us a table.”

 

“Sweet,” Linda grinned. “Where’d Brendon go, by the way?”

 

“Bathroom,” Dallon said. “He’ll be back in a moment, probably--” their face shifted into a grin as they looked at something behind Spencer, “or he’ll be back right now. Hey, Bren, did I summon you again?”

 

“You know I’m the devil in disguise,” a voice said. Spencer turned around, and because the world hated him and wanted him to suffer, there was the other cute guy from the cafeteria. The same one that Spencer had literally run into and embarrassed himself in front of. And he was grinning and a little sweaty, and Spencer was suffering because of how gorgeous he was up close and not in an embarrassing situation. The guy--Brendon, apparently--noticed Spencer and his eyes widened before he said, “oh, you’re the guy who ran into me! Dude, I thought you were just another douchebag, I’m so sorry! I’m Brendon, by the way. He/him, bi and poly and ready to get some fucking food.”

 

“Um, Spencer,” Spencer said, wishing his brain would catch up with him. “Nice to eat yo--meet you. I’m not a cannibal.”

 

“You’re adorable,” Brendon grinned. He slung an arm around Jon. “Thank you for choosing this one, Mr. Walker. He’s gonna fit in perfectly, I can tell.”

 

“Stop being an ass, Brendon,” Linda said, but she was grinning and Spencer could tell that she was enjoying this. She linked arms with Dallon and Spencer and reached her leg around to poke Jon’s calf with her toes. “Come on boys and Dallon, let’s go keep our straight friend from starving to death while surrounded by ugly frat boys.”

 

“You think every boy is ugly,” Dallon said. Linda nodded earnestly. “Yup, that’s why I’m a lesbian. I grew up surrounded by ugly men and now my view is permanently skewed.”

 

“I’d be offended, but you’re kind of right,” Spencer said. “Most guys are really not that attractive.”

 

“I’ll fuck anyone!” Brendon yelled out into the night, and Jon started laughing at him. There was no one around to hear Brendon’s exclamations, but he kept yelling anyway. “I’m a bisexual slut and I will fuck anyone! I’ll fuck your mom, I’ll fuck your dad, I’ll fuck myself! This dick cannot be tamed!”

 

“Brendon likes it up the ass!” Jon yelled, his voice cracking. Brendon nodded eagerly. “Damn right I do!”

 

“I hate men!” Linda screamed, and soon all five of them were shouting slightly incorrect assumptions about their own sexualities. There was something freeing about being alone on campus at ten thirty at night, surrounded by gay college students who didn’t feel welcomed by their own university. It was like they were all coming out to the world, but they were doing it together and so it wasn’t as scary. 

 

Panda Express was mostly empty, aside from a few tables filled with frat boys, just as Linda had assumed. Breezy was sitting at a table near the back, glaring daggers at any boy who dared leer at her. She looked up and grinned at them as they came in, and Spencer wished for a moment that he’d brought Ryan with him. Ryan would like these guys, probably, and he and Spencer could use some more mutual friends. They were a little codependent on each other. It was too late to invite Ryan now, he was probably already having sex with some blonde girl who was an English and Religious Studies major. Spencer knew Ryan’s type.

 

“Hey, Spencer, did you enjoy the rave?” Breezy asked as Dallon slid into the chair beside her. She draped her arm over their shoulders. “I’ve heard it’s one of the best on-campus events, aside from the ones where alcohol is actually allowed.”

 

“It was pretty great,” Spencer said, and didn’t mention that he didn’t drink, for Ryan’s sake. He wasn’t ashamed that he didn’t drink, and he wasn’t planning on hiding it from his friends, but there was no reason to mention that fact now. They were just getting some late night, subpar Chinese food. 

 

They all left their things at the table, claiming it for their own even though the chance of someone stealing their seats was very low, and walked over to the serving line as a small mob of gays (and Breezy). Spencer had never had Panda Express before, so he just ordered the same thing as Linda and hoped for the best. It turned out to taste pretty good, considering it was overpriced campus food. 

 

“So, Spencer, you got any great gay stories for us?” Brendon asked, stealing a piece of chicken from Jon’s tray even though he had his own right in front of him. “And by great I mean feel free to unload your tragic gay backstory. We've all got one, it's pretty great bonding material.”

 

“Um, I don't really have a tragic backstory,” Spencer said. “I came out to my parents when I was thirteen and they never believed me until I was eighteen and came home from a gay bar with a hickey on my neck from some guy I met there. They were pretty okay with it then. I guess they were just worried I'd get hurt.”

 

“You're lucky,” Linda said. “Where's you say you were from, again?”

 

“Um, metro Atlanta,” Spencer said. “It's like regular Atlanta, but with more suburbs and less traffic.”

 

“Dude, I'm from buttfuck nowhere Kentucky,” Linda said. “I was the only gay person in my entire high school, and there was so much homophobia everywhere. It was the worst place. Probably. I didn’t even bother telling my mom and dad because they were already upset that I joined the campus Democrats group, I didn’t need another lecture on my ‘sexually degrading, feminist ways’ and how they were ‘pulling me from the path God has set me on’. Because God totally has a plan for this gay ass.”

 

“Okay, but at least your parents aren’t crazy ass Baptists who’ve literally picketed a planned parenthood,” Brendon said. He pointed to himself and Dallon. “Because that was what we grew up with, and it sucked ass.”

 

“Guys, it’s not a competition,” Jon said, and leaned forward, a grin on his face. “But if it was, I’d win. My parents have been sending me passive aggressive texts and links to articles about how hormonal transitions can permanently ruin the body and how being trans is unnatural and not supported by biology.”

 

Breezy and Linda both made faces of disappointment. Dallon shook their head. “That’s gross. Your parents sound shitty.”

 

“I’m used to it,” Jon shrugged. “Besides, I’ve got you guys now. You’re like my second family. My gay family.”

 

“Gaymily,” Dallon suggested. Jon nodded in agreement, and it was decided that the group chat they used to keep in contact with each other would be named the Gaymily. Spencer got added in, and Jon said he could add Ryan if he wanted to, but Spencer didn’t want to add Ryan until Ryan had met Spencer’s new friends. Just because Spencer liked Ryan and got along with him, didn’t mean that the others would. 

 

They parted ways around midnight, with the others heading towards the off-campus apartments and Spencer heading towards the heart of campus where his dorm was. He pulled out his phone and texted Ryan on his way over, so that Ryan could either get his girlfriend out of the room or at least get some clothes on them. Ryan responded with a  _ cool, wer watching a film if u want2 join _ . Spencer rolled his eyes, reminded Ryan that he had his public speaking class the next morning, and then pocketed his phone. 

 

When Spencer got into the dorm, Ryan and the girl--who Spencer didn’t know the name of--had either finished their film or had turned it off for Spencer’s sake and were quietly discussing something in Ryan’s bed. Spencer dropped his things beside his bed and grabbed his pajamas from where he’d left them that morning, heading to the showers to change since he didn’t feel like stripping down in front of someone he’d probably never see again in a few weeks. He came back in and immediately fell into bed, muttering a “night, Ryan and girlfriend,” before letting sleep take him. He was pretty sure he heard Ryan and the girl respond, but he was mostly out of it by that point. 

 

Spencer woke up to his alarm going off, because somehow he (or Ryan) had remembered to plug his phone in the night before. Spencer leaned over his bed and shut the alarm off, sitting up and running his hands through his hair so it stuck up at weird angles. In the other bed, Ryan and the blonde were spooning, and Ryan was snoring a little. Spencer rolled his eyes and grabbed one of his pillows. He hopped out of bed and whapped Ryan in the head with it. “Hey, Ryan, wake up.”

 

“Eat my entire ass,” Ryan said, throwing his arm over his face. Behind him, the girl let out a giggle. Ryan lifted his arm and stared at Spencer with wide, tired eyes. “Wait, I take that back, you might actually do that. Don’t eat my ass. Why’d you wake me up?”

 

“You should get coffee with me and my friends,” Spencer said. “The ones I met last night.”

 

“Do I have to?” Ryan said, but he was already getting out of bed, and the girl was taking that as her cue to leave. She said goodbye as she left, and told Ryan to call her sometime over the weekend. She winked before the door closed, which meant that she was planning to have sex with Ryan again, and Spencer was pretty sure Ryan wouldn’t turn her down. She was cute, for a girl. Ryan turned to Spencer and did his best to glare at him, even though it was obvious that Ryan was nowhere near being awake. He sighed. “Fine, I’ll get coffee with your gay rave friends. But you’re paying, and you should probably get last night’s makeup off of your face. You look like a rainbow came over your left eye.”

 

“Thanks, Ryan,” Spencer said, and swiped Ryan’s box of makeup removing towelettes. “Go get ready, I’ll shower whenever you get back.”

 

“Yeah, because it’ll take you that long to get your rainbow jizz off your face,” Ryan said, pulling a pair of pants off the ground. They looked like they were corduroy. 

 

Spencer made a face at his friend through the mirror. “You’re the one who put this on my face, don’t call it jizz.”

  
“It wasn’t jizz when I put it there,” Ryan shrugged. Spencer rolled his eyes. “Sure, Ryan, whatever makes you feel better about your makeup skills.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment/kudos if you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment or kudos if you enjoyed it!!


End file.
